Farmland practices are driving bird population decline across Europe
Language English Country United States Media print-electronic
Document type Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PubMed
37186854
PubMed Central
PMC10214186
DOI
10.1073/pnas.2216573120
Knihovny.cz E-resources
- Keywords
- agriculture intensification, anthropogenic pressures, bird conservation, large-scale analysis,
- MeSH
- Biodiversity MeSH
- Ecosystem MeSH
- Farms MeSH
- Forests * MeSH
- Population Dynamics MeSH
- Birds physiology MeSH
- Conservation of Natural Resources MeSH
- Agriculture * MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- Europe MeSH
Declines in European bird populations are reported for decades but the direct effect of major anthropogenic pressures on such declines remains unquantified. Causal relationships between pressures and bird population responses are difficult to identify as pressures interact at different spatial scales and responses vary among species. Here, we uncover direct relationships between population time-series of 170 common bird species, monitored at more than 20,000 sites in 28 European countries, over 37 y, and four widespread anthropogenic pressures: agricultural intensification, change in forest cover, urbanisation and temperature change over the last decades. We quantify the influence of each pressure on population time-series and its importance relative to other pressures, and we identify traits of most affected species. We find that agricultural intensification, in particular pesticides and fertiliser use, is the main pressure for most bird population declines, especially for invertebrate feeders. Responses to changes in forest cover, urbanisation and temperature are more species-specific. Specifically, forest cover is associated with a positive effect and growing urbanisation with a negative effect on population dynamics, while temperature change has an effect on the dynamics of a large number of bird populations, the magnitude and direction of which depend on species' thermal preferences. Our results not only confirm the pervasive and strong effects of anthropogenic pressures on common breeding birds, but quantify the relative strength of these effects stressing the urgent need for transformative changes in the way of inhabiting the world in European countries, if bird populations shall have a chance of recovering.
Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań 61 712 Poland
Andorran Research Innovation Sant Julià de Lòria AD500 Principality of Andorra
Aves Natagora Namur 5000 Belgium
BirdLife Austria Vienna 1070 Austria
BirdLife Cyprus Nicosia 2340 Cyprus
BirdLife Norway Trondheim 7012 Norway
British Trust for Ornithology Thetford IP24 2PU United Kingdom
Catalan Ornithological Institute Natural History Museum of Barcelona Barcelona 4 5 08019 Spain
Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya Solsona 25280 Spain
Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications Cerdanyola del Vallès 08193 Spain
Czech Society for Ornithology BirdLife Czech Republic Prague 150 00 Czech Republic
Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten Muenster D 48157 Germany
Danish Ornithological Society BirdLife Denmark Copenhagen 1620 Denmark
Department of Biology Lund University Lund 223 62 Sweden
Department of Zoology Faculty of Science Palacký University Olomouc 779 00 Czech Republic
Dimensione Ricerca Ecologia Ambiente Italia Pratovecchio 52015 Italy
Društvo za opazovanje in proučevanje ptic Slovenije BirdLife Slovenia Ljubljana SI 1000 Slovenia
Estonian Ornithological Society Birdlife Estonia Tartu 51005 Estonia
European Bird Census Council Nijmegen 6524 The Netherlands
Faculty of Biology University of Latvia Riga LV 1004 Latvia
FaunaViva MITO2000 Parma 43122 Italy
Finnish Museum of Natural History University of Helsinki Helsinki 00100 Finland
Hellenic Ornithological Society Athens 10437 Greece
Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society BirdLife Hungary Budapest 1121 Hungary
Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution de Montpellier Montpellier 34095 France
Latvian Ornithological Society Riga LV 1050 Latvia
Lithuanian Ornithological Society Vilnius LT 03208 Lithuania
Milvus Group Bird and Nature Protection Association Tîrgu Mureş 540445 Romania
Museum and Institute of Zoology Polish Academy of Sciences Warszawa 00 679 Poland
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research Trondheim 7485 Norway
Patrinat and UMR7204 Centre d'Écologie et des Sciences de la Conservation CNRS SU Paris 75005 France
Romanian Ornithological Society BirdLife Romania Cluj Napoca 030231 Romania
Section of Science Nord University Levanger 8049 Norway
Sovon Dutch Center for Field Ornithology Nijmegen 6525 The Netherlands
Spanish Ornithological Society Madrid 28053 Spain
Swiss Ornithological Institute Sempach CH 6204 Switzerland
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Farmland practices are driving bird population decline across Europe
